New To Chuck Wagon Competitions......continued...sorry, been on vacation....

You are also going to need about three washtubs, or wreck pans, for adhering to the requirements of the various health departments.  One tub will be used for wash, one for rinse, and the third for sterilizing.  Try to gather up some old knives, enamel or tin cups, some bone or wood handled forks, and any thing you can find that is really old....old cooks are good too.

  Even as late as say 1930 or 1940 will work.  There were a number of chuck wagons still doing their thing on ranches at that time and even still today.  You have to remember we are trying to preserve the western heritage as it developed in the 1800’s and up until the 1940’s.  As I started into this “chuck wagon business” I got to use many things that belonged to my late father and grandfather.  So ask around and see if there are some antiques around the old homestead.  It will make you smile with pride every time you use them. 

Some cook-off organizers allow for certain ingredients to be used in the preparations of the entries and others do not.  Some are specific about what is to be prepared and what you can and can’t use in the preparation.  For instance, at some cook-off’s they want the menu to be strictly trail food.  Only entries that would have actually been cooked with what was available on the trail and the seasonings of that era can be entered.  Definitely no gourmet entries of any kind would be allowed or you would be disqualified.  While other locations allow you to expand your culinary skills and they leave the entries sort of open ended.  Many of the organizers will want you to prepare Chicken Fried Steak, mostly because it’s what the public wants.  In the other categories you will find some ingredients that are taboo.  Some of the no no items are:  cheese, biscuit mixes, chili mixes, bbq sauces, mushrooms, powdered sugar, frozen foods, and mayonnaise.  Some will specify the kind of bread they want prepared.  Most of the competitions provide the basic ingredients such as:  meat, potatoes, fruit, beans, potatoes, onions, flour, sugar, oil, wood, ice and water. If you are going to go to an event or have just heard about it, look it up on the web and check out the particulars.

When you get to a competition site you know how much food you are going to prepare because the organizers will tell you in a letter prior to the event.  For example, you will be cooking for 40-60 ticket holders.  Or, while other sites may have you only prepare enough food for the judges.  Most of the competitions you will have “blind judging”.  That isn’t to say that the judges are blind even though there was a time or two when I thought we had the very best, the grand daddy, the ultimo entry and the only thing I could figure out was the judges were blind and had no taste.  The “blind judging” is, for those new to these types of events, when the judges never see the name of the person or outfit that prepared the entry.  Some smaller events will have the judges go from wagon to wagon to judge the various entries.  This very seldom, if ever, happens in the larger events where there are more that about 3-4 wagons.  There was one particular organizer that "caught" the food judges walking around the camp sites looking at what was being prepared and the organizer disqualified the judges and obtained ones that were not familiar with what was being prepared by whom. 

The purpose to have a chuck wagon and enter competitions or cater of your local events is the same:  To preserve “Our Western Heritage”.  What goes along with that is to have fun while doing it.  You can spend a lot of time and money putting together a great wagon and accoutrements.  You can also put together just the bare essentials necessary for competition and spend a good bit less money.  The same goes for the clothing outfit(s) you and your crew chooses to wear. 

However the big money is spent on the wagon, then you have to have a way to haul it from place to place.  You can buy horses or mules, maybe a truck and flat bed trailer, or even a truck and goose neck trailer.  If the ole do re mi allows, you can buy enclosed trailer with or without sleeping quarters.  There are many things to consider and the decisions you make will ultimately impact your bank account. 

Most of the competitions you will receive information about will have at least six or seven categories that are judged.  The food judging will be for:  meat, bread, beans, potatoes, and dessert.  Along with the food will be the authenticity of the wagon and the camp.  There may be additional prizes for the “farthest traveled” and for the “most hospitable camp”.  Sometimes you will find a “hard luck” category you most assuredly don’t want to win. 

You will see all sorts of rigs at the various events and generally their camps are set up basically the same.  There are some notable differences, however.  A person with a non educated eye might see two wagons and think, “Wow, those are great looking wagons.” 

To the trained eye you might find one of the wagons was purchased for several thousand dollars and is of exceptional quality with no detracting features, while the other wagon may have been obtained for far less money and yet may not be as fine or fancy as the next person’s.  The main thing the judges consider is(or in my opinion SHOULD consider):  Will the wagon be in the condition necessary to be pulled by a team up the trail and have the necessary equipment to feed a couple dozen cowboys?  They will both compete in the same wagon division with the only separation being if the competition is divided into a Trail Division and a Ranch Division. And speaking of judges, just so you will be aware,  there have been circumstances where wagon builders were secured to do the judging of the wagons and it turned out that there were wagons in the competition that were built by a judge.  You probably don't want to know who won the competition.  As much as we would like to believe that the judge would not be biased, I would certainly expect the judge to disqualify himself from the judging.

A question arose; do you have to have a ranch to compete?  No, absolutely not.  Many of the competitors do have ranches which use their wagon on “cow hunts”.  Still many others are interested in the Western Heritage and the Cowboy/Cowgirl Culture and want to preserve what they can by getting a wagon and doing what all of us find to be a lot of fun.  Hard work-yes, but more importantly-FUN! Another question that may come up is "do we have to have a team to pull our wagon?"  That is a simple NO!

Speaking of fun, all the fun is not had while cooking.  There is so much BS’ing going on that you have to get up really early to get ahead of some of the past masters. 

Besides all the “bullshipping” going on you can walk around the camp sites and hear guitars, fiddles, drums, harmonicas, and an occasional bag pipe. Hee, hee, bagpipes?

I hope that some of the things in these few paragraphs may be helpful to someone just getting started.  

See you on down the road...............